James McNaughton, 27, the first city police officer killed in the line of duty in Iraq, died with honor in the eyes of his family and fellow servicemen.
Serving as an Army MP, McNaughton, a four-year NYPD veteran, was struck on his second tour overseas by a sniper’s bullet on August 2 as he was teaching security procedures to Iraqi authorities.
A staff sergeant with the 306th Military Police Battalion based out of Fort Totten, McNaughton had service in his blood.
He was part of the first class to graduate from the Police Academy post-9/11. His father, William McNaughton, recently retired from the Police Department, his stepmother is a transit cop, and his fiancee, Liliana Paredes, 24, is also an officer.
Unable to stanch the flow of tears following his death, Paredes could not bear to handle funeral arrangements for the man that would have been her husband.
Saying “We have lost one of our finest in Iraq,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki said that the McNaughton family would receive their son’s full police pension and death benefits, just as though he had been killed in the line of duty on American soil.
toni@queenscourier.com
Family, Friends Mourn Fallen NYPD Soldier
By Toni Cimino
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